Schools of Consequence

There are good schools.  And, there are great schools. And, then there are schools which have a transformational impact on their context, community, and culture.

After working with over 210 independent schools and private colleges throughout the country, we have learned a lot from our clients over the past decade. We can often strategically categorize schools and colleges by mission, enrollment, financial model, and even educational philosophy. However, we think we have discovered a new category of school or college that defines their success in a different and more meaningful way. We call them Schools of Consequence.

Just what is a School of Consequence? From our experience, there are a multitude of good schools and colleges that churn out good graduates through good programs. They are consumer centric, provide good services, deliver an excellent education, and produce excellent student outcomes. Then, however, there are schools and colleges that appear to have a transformational quality on the context of their environment. They shape, mold, and transform the culture around them. They are porous, deeply connected to their community, and an integral player in the context of their environment. Just like the famous character George Bailey in the famous movie "It's a Wonderful Life" played a transformational role in the historic Bedford Falls community, these schools and colleges seem to have a profound impact on the context and culture around them. They are a small segment of independent schools and colleges that seem to thrive in doing meaningful work within the context of their environment.

During the next several weeks, we will expand on our thinking of this new category of educational institution that we are naming Schools of Consequence. We started this process in the fall 2014, and seek to continue our thinking this spring and summer.  What makes them tick? Why are they so successful? What's different about their culture than other schools? And, why should more schools and colleges seek to be just like them?

We think we've discovered a new category of school for tomorrow. We call them the Schools of Consequence. We invite you to join us as we outline this next generation of schools over the next several weeks. 

The Success of Duke School

I had the pleasure of reconnecting with a wonderfully successful client story today.  I visited Duke School in Durham, North Carolina, where we completed a strategic marketing plan just over five years ago.  The school not only embraced our recommendations, including mission, vision, and values statements, but also demonstrated an acumen for execution rarely seen among independent schools.  Today, the school enjoys stronger messaging, visibility, positioning clarity - as well as one of the most well-established educational philosophies we have had the pleasure of which to serve.  It is no wonder the school has full enrollment with mission-centered students and families and demand exceeding capacity.  

Duke School was established in 1947 as a lab school for the benefit of students in the departments of psychology and education at Duke University. Today, Duke School serves as a leading educational institution both within the Triangle and wider educational community. Its teaching methods continue as a model for both public and other independent schools, and its unique child-centered, project-based integrated curriculum continues to adapt to serve a variety of learning styles.

If you are ever in the Research Triangle and seek to visit a school with a clearly established, mature educational philosophy grounded in project-based learning, check out Duke School.  On campus you will find a thoughtful and engaging culture of learning rarely witnessed among peers.

Planning for an Uncertain Future

Ian is speaking today in Richmond, Virginia to heads of school and trustees members of the Virginia Association of Independent Schools.  His presentation file can be found here as a PDF file, and tweets can be posted to @iansymmonds or @symmonds throughout the presentation.  Also, attendees might consider downloading Long Live Strategy, the ISA iBook, for some content for today's session.

In Case You Missed It - Driving Demand Enrollment Series

Attention Enrollment Managers!  In case you missed it, ISA ran a three-part series back in February and early March on how to drive enrollment and demand for independent schools and colleges.  Authored by our lead enrollment strategist, there were three excellent and instructive entries on how to drive or manufacture demand through relational marketing, social media, and content marketing. Check out those links if you missed the series.  

The "I Don't Have Time" Conundrum

Note: This blog post comes courtesy of Kelly Laboe, ISA's enrollment management consultant.  Her entry is also broadcast on our SoundCloud feed.  You can follow Kelly on Twitter for more pearls of enrollment management wisdom.  

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It's a counter-intuitive scenario:  Driving enrollment is mission critical for sustaining financial viability in most independent schools yet directors of enrollment management often find their divisions understaffed and overworked.   It is common for directors to wear every hat in the book: strategist, marketing guru, admission counselor, and administrator.  Their plates are served with heaping portions of responsibilities and tasks.  Being served professional portions that are impossible to completely consume can only lead one down two paths.  

1. Throw your hands in the air and shout, “I surrender!”
2. Prioritize and release.  Give a sense of urgency to key triggers in driving enrollment and let go of the minutia. 

The key is to work smarter, not harder, and get the most out of your limited resources, which includes time and money.  What are some top of mind things that we see great enrollment management programs doing to shoulder these burdens?  Here are some simple and strategic ways to move your office forward. 

• Go Digital.  We are knee deep in the digital age although many independent schools have yet to even dip their toes in this pool.   Embrace the “no paper” era with open arms, and conversely save personnel hours.  From reenrollment, to the inquiry and application process, to new student registration, more paper means more work, as well as more opportunity for error.
   
• Enlist Great Software.  Propose an investment in intuitive, effective enrollment management software.  When utilized properly, the effect can be equated to having another enrollment management associate on board.  With most enrollment management technical suites possess the capability execute the school’s communication plan, this is yet another opportunity to automate and in turn reduce workload.
   
• Be Data-Driven.  Base your actions and decisions on empirical data.  Look at numbers, demographics, history, and whatever data available to determine where to properly allocate your time.   After all past performance is the greatest indicator of future performance.   Do not rely on theory as to why operations have been conducted in their current form.   Bring out your inner Sherlock, and get to the root of key motivators through research.
   
• Collaborate on Campus.  Create partnerships with faculty and staff to collectively meet the needs of families engaged in your enrollment  funnel.   Utilize ambassadors for calling campaigns, maximize prospective students’ exposure and communication with faculty.  Develop a current parent resource team to connect with prospective families.   Maximize the strengths of your current population and afford others the opportunity to participate.
   
• Be Social.  Understand the effectiveness of social media marketing and execute accordingly.   Social media isn’t going anywhere, folks.  It is intuitive, audience-friendly, engaging, and inexpensive.  Let’s face it, print advertising and direct mail campaigns are ineffective dinosaurs in a world of technological progress.  Consistent dissemination of effective content through social media outlets will not only reach your audience but do so in a language they speak fluently.
   
• Let it Go.  One can only do so much, and effective overworked directors of enrollment management share a keen ability to understand what is and is not under their control.  The key is to focus on the tasks and strategies that are truly mission critical and let go of any operational hurdles and busy work that impedes strategic movement forward. 

If you are looking for ways to streamline your effort and remain strategic in the process, consider implementing a few of these ideas in your enrollment management program.  Have other ideas?  Feel free to share your comments below so that others may benefit from your wisdom and experience. 

ISA is Now on SoundCloud

We are excited to announce that we have launched our channel on SoundCloud!  ISA now posts our regular blog entries as podcasts for live listening and download.  Narrated by Ian, the podcasts are free and are updated with each blog entry.  Also, we intend to feature all future speaking engagements on our SoundCloud channel, as well.  Click here to launch the channel or visit our social media icons from any of our webpages. 

Adda Clevenger School Selects ISA

The Adda Clevenger School has selected ISA for research and consulting services.  The Adda Clevenger School is an independent elementary school providing an accelerated academic and arts curriculum to San Francisco Bay Area students grades K1-8 since 1980.  Our work will commence in May and continue through the fall term.  

The Adda Clevenger School was founded to encourage the intellectual, social and physical development of students who are able, and have the desire, to learn, grow and achieve more, and to do so more quickly, than their peers in the general population. The whole child – mind, body and character – is fostered to maximize educational success throughout the years of formal schooling.

Fundamental to the Adda Clevenger School experience is that students are actively engaged in the classroom and in school life; the development of passive learning habits, indolence and social detachment is actively discouraged.

Why Education Matters

On a regular basis, I write and speak about trends and forces in the education industry.  I spend a great deal of time scanning the environment to identify, understand, and place in context different cultural inflection points and their relationship to education.  I bone up on the changing educational landscape and how the great innovators and thought leaders are approaching their work.  But, I've never taken the time to articulate in a blog post why education matters to me, and should matter to all of us.  Today, I thought I would step back from the day to day of our industry and place my work - all of our work - in context.

Time and time again, education has demonstrated to us that it is the gold standard of investment.  From an economic standpoint, there is no better investment.  Whether it is pulling people out of a life of poverty or inspiring new job earnings, education performs like no other investment.  Consider these facts:

Median Earnings of College Graduates Are Nearly Double High School Graduates. The median weekly earning of a person holding a Bachelor's degree is roughly is roughly $1100, compared to just $600 for high school graduates.  And, weekly earnings drop to just over $400 for non high school graduates. 
 
Unemployment is Nearly Double for Non-College Graduates. The unemployment rate nearly doubles - from 4.2% to 8.3% - for people not earning at least a four year degree.  And, it increases to over 12% for those not graduating from high school.
 
A Four Year College Degree More Than Doubles Average Lifetime Earnings. A college graduate can expect to earn just over $1 million in a lifetime of employment, while high school graduates can expect to earn roughly $450K.  
 
Education is a Better Investment Than Stocks, Gold, or Housing. The rate of return on a college investment over a lifetime is roughly 15%, compared to 7% in the stock market, 3% in gold, or 2% in housing. 
 
The Rate of Poverty Dramatically Increases Without a College Degree.  The percentage of Americans living in poverty without a college degree is roughly 18%.  For college graduates, only 4% live in poverty.

The economic implications of education are undeniable.  No currency or investment has performed as well as education over time.  Education is the gold standard from an economic standpoint. 

But, what is the primary purpose of education?  This is the age old question.  Is the primary purpose of education for us to earn a living?  Or, is it to live a life?  Better yet, is it to change lives?  I'm not a fan of dualistic or exclusive thinking and tend to support the idea that it is all of these purposes, from economic, to identity, to transformation of the human race.  Education advances our understanding of ourselves within the context of our community.  It places front and center the age old common life questions of "who am I, why am I here, and what do I have to contribute" and demands us to grapple with these issues.  

What I know to be true is simple and straightforward. There are only two things in my life that I cannot lose.  They are my education and faith.  Collectively, they shape who I am, how I see the world, and how I function within it.  No one can take those two things away from me.  In an increasingly dangerous world of uncertainty, ambiguity, and fear, I can lose everything - my family, house, job, or investments.  But, you can't take away the way I see the world.  My story is unique to me.  It reflects my experiences, orientation, and understanding. And, education and faith are not just central, but they are singular in defining who I am in the world.  With those two sound investments, I can remain competitive and confident in an increasingly dangerous and uncertain world.

That's why education matters.  And, that's why I pour my life into it.  Education matters - in any brand, in any delivery mode, in any context.  

Predicting the Future by Reading the Past

It is often said that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.  When it comes to understanding current trends in primary and secondary independent education, understanding the past history of higher education proves quite helpful.  In fact, some of the current trends in independent education management are strikingly similar to trends experienced by higher education over a decade ago.  Here are just a few.

Tuition Discounting - Using financial aid as a net tuition revenue generatior and moving to a leveraged or optimized financial aid model has roots in the past two decades in higher education.  Small, private, tuition-driven colleges have been doing this successfully for nearly twenty years.  The concept of merit-based aid (in concert with need-based aid) also has roots in the higher education camp.  In fact, you will be hard-pressed to find such a college today without a very sophisticated NTR (net tuition revenue) model in place in their enrollment management program.   

Online and Extended Learning - Higher education found extended learning, or learning beyond the walls of a traditional classroom, was a "blue ocean strategy" just shy of two decades ago.  As the number of traditional high school graduates dwindled in the late 1990's and early part of the first decade of our new Millenium, adult degree completion programs and online learning efforts proliferated the market in an effort to grab new customers.  

Auxilliary Revenue Drivers - Repurposing unutilized capacity , such as classrooms, residence halls, and athletic facilities for other uses, such as a public interface or rental income, has been a key element of the higher education budgeting process.  Most colleges still operate on a eight or nine month academic calendar, with excess capacity available on the weekends and throughout the summer.  Over the years, they have become increasingly competitive and sophisticated into how to build public facing programs that utilize their unused capacity and generate additional revenue, as well as build their brand.

Understanding Different Learning Experiences - Higher education might have been a pioneer in understanding and honoring different learning experiences through credit on a transcript.  Portfolio-based learning, where inbound college credit is assigned based upon life and professional experiences, has been common in some college degree completion programs.  While this may be different than looking at the incoming credentials of a sixth grader, it may not be as different as we think.  Higher education has long assumed that the learner of today may be very different than the person next to them in the classroom just a generation ago.

If we were to look further, we would find even more parallels between the two industries.  The reality is that most major trends that we see in the independent school primary and secondary world often have their roots in the higher education industry.  Some of these trends have been well-managed at the college and university level, while others have not. And, each trend and its collective impact on the industry is worthy of debate.  But, we have often believed that it is both informative and predictive to examine where higher education is going to detemine the later impact on primary and secondary private education.  

The reality is that most of the management-related innovations and financial management issues either have their roots in higher education, or interestingly, in the boarding school industry, each which have had significant distruptions in their competitive environment.  These major shifts provided the urgency for innovation in their management and delivery of education.  The question I like to consider is where will be the next major set of innovations in private education management, specifically when it comes to funding and delivery, and which industry will arrive at solutions first?

The New Normal?

Successful innovation in any industry or sector tends to breed disruption of the status quo.  In a systems approach, innovation disrupts the normal state of the industry and replaces it with a new order of things, or a new normal.  We all know that education has been going through an inflection point and that innovation and disruption are part of our "new normal" lives as educators.  So, are we approaching a new normal as an industry?

The only way we can address that question with some level of accuracy is to use our experience in the world of independent schools and colleges, as well as our breath of client work, as a guidepost.  A quick, down and dirty content analysis of recent strategic plans that we have been working on or have finalized in the last 24 months would see terms such as "project-based", "inquiry-based", "social emotional learning", "design thinking", "maker spaces", "hands on learning", "global perspective", "cultural fluency", "collaborative learning communities", "one-to-one technology", and "learner-centered learning" on a regular basis.  We also scan the nightly twitter conversations on educational technology, student-centered learning, and design thinking and see some of the same conversations burgeoning.  If content is a good indicator of direction, it would appear that schools and colleges are refining their approaches, programs, and overall educational philosophies.  We can thank the hard work of many good educators out there who are forward thinking on behalf of the industry to help push us forward.  Does this mean that we have arrived in a new place?  I don't think so.  I think it just means that the awareness of the need for change and the willingness to adapt is more present now than ever before.  More work to do here, but the foundation is being laid with much more construction and finishing work yet to emerge.

So, the good news is that the delivery of education might look very different in the future, better organized around the learner needs and less institutionally centric.  Now, if we can just turn our attention to the financial model of this.  Educators are really good at trying to figuring out the right way to teach and learn, but somewhat miserable at how to pay for it all.  We are in the midst of a funding crisis in education of extraordinary proportions, where we are outpacing incomes and willingness to afford our offerings.  We have to double down and expect more from our industry on the potential solutions to our financial model as hard, if not even harder, than redefining our learning experiences.  Let's get that one solved.  

Take the George Bailey Test - VIDEO

I've taken to a video blog today to make my point about organizational relevance and community impact.  Remember George Bailey? Jimmy Stewart played the role of the dutiful son in the classic holiday movie "It's a Wonderful Life".  After an angel granted him his wish, George had a chance to see what his community, Bedford Falls, would like life had his life not been lived.  What would your community look like if your school or college had never existed?  Watch this short video and encourage your faculty, staff, administrative team, or even board of trustees to take The George Bailey Test.  You might be fascinated by what you collectively learn.

Calling All Ed-Activists > Support KUZA Now!

Since 2010, ISA has established an identity around what we call "Ed-Activism", leveraging education as the most strategic solution to structured poverty.  Under the campaign of JustCause and more recently ISA-X, we have partnered with countless organizations to advance their strategic agendas to change the conversation about poverty.  And, this year, KUZA Program is our 2015 partner. 

Right now, KUZA is participating in a competition to get established on the Global Giving website as a permanent partner. 

What this means is that KUZA will be able to post pictures and projects so that people all over the States and the world will be able to donate to support KUZA.  They reach an entirely new audience with this cause!  That's pretty cool.

The good news is, today, Wednesday the 18th, Global Giving will contribute 20% to every donation that's between $25-$1000 until their matching grant of $10,000 is depleted.  The projects with the most funds raised and most unique contributions given tomorrow will be awarded an additional $1000 from Global Giving!  

Can you help KUZA blast ahead of the competition by checking out their Global Giving page and making a special contribution to the cause?  Here's where to find them:  www.globalgiving.org/19911

ISACS Selects ISA for Strategic Planning

The Independent Schools Association of the Central States has selected Ian Symmonds & Associates to lead the association in their upcoming strategic planning effort.  Our work will commence with some organizational work this spring, but primarily be focused on the fall and spring of 2015-16.  Ian offered the keynote for the ISACS heads and leaders conference in Chicago in January.  We are very excited to begin our work with the association.

Barton College- North Carolina

It's a beautiful day at Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina where Ian is consulting on strategic enrollment management.  Barton College, a four-year, private, liberal arts college, believes in college on a first-name basis. Providing students with a strong academic focus and opportunities for leadership development, Barton unites its smaller size with an intentional application of collaborative learning in every aspect of the students’ college experience.

Crossroads School Appoints Enrollment Manager

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Eric Barber as the director of enrollment management at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California.  This appointment is to a newly created position at Crossroads to lead the implementation of an integrated strategic enrollment management system.  ISA led the year long search for this appointment, yielding numerous fine candidates.

Eric impressed the selection team at Crossroads with his wealth of experience in school enrollment and admissions, as well as his background in strategic thinking, access and equity work, and team building. As Crossroads’ director of enrollment management, Eric will provide leadership in enrollment planning and will serve as the point of integration for the recruitment, admissions, financial aid, information management, re-enrollment and retention functions of the school. He will oversee both  Elementary and Secondary admissions offices, working closely with both directors Celia Lee and Erica Warren.

Eric was most recently the director of admission and enrollment management at the Evergreen School in Shoreline, Washington. Prior to that, he served as the associate director of admissions and outreach coordinator at Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington, and was the associate director of admissions at the California Institute of the Arts. Eric holds a bachelor of arts in music from the University of Oregon and a master of fine arts from the California Institute for the Arts in jazz and African-American Music. 

Please join ISA in congratulating both Eric and Crossroads School in their new partnership and the creation of an integrated strategic enrollment management system.

Cardiac Arrest, AED's, and Gratitude

As some of you may have heard, we had an interesting development last month at ISA.  In mid-February, Ian experienced a sudden cardiac arrest during an extensive tennis workout at his local tennis club.  An avid tournament tennis player, ex-Division I athlete, and fitness fanatic, this development was completely unexpected.  

But, Ian's cardiac emergency turned into a miracle as his wife, tennis club, and tennis pro were all prepared with an AED and training in how to administer it.  After nearly ten minutes of unresponsiveness, Ian was shocked back to life and taken to the hospital.  Successful angioplasty under the care of amazing doctors, Ian has an excellent prognosis and is already back at the helm of ISA, traveling and working with clients only two weeks after the incident.  

Ian's situation has give us a great deal of gratitude and also demonstrates the power of AED's and trained staff on how to use them.  A local NBC affiliate in Portland carried the feature story above, and it also got picked up by the national NBC.com site.  We have learned to never judge a book by it's cover when it comes to issues of the heart.  If you work out often at a health club, be sure to ask if they possess an AED and if the staff is well-prepared to respond to a cardiac emergency.  From what we have learned, it can happen to anyone.

Driving Demand Through Social Media

Note: "Driving Demand" is a three part series on manufacturing interest and demand for independent schools and colleges.  Written by our Director of Enrollment Management Services, Kelly Laboe, each article focuses on foundational aspects of generating interest and demand for enrollment.  This is the third and final in the three part series.

The Invisible Inquiry
What is the first step in inquiry into an institution for parents and students?  It certainly isn’t picking up the phone and calling the admissions office.  That process went away 10 years ago, if not more.  Today, the inquiry is invisible as the first step for families is culling through websites and social media outlets to separate the competition among independent schools.  And, ironically, very few independent schools institutionally structure a social media content plan as a priority.  

The Enrollment Managers Woe
Additionally, Admission Directors are increasingly expected to own their institution's social media presence.  In effect, they expected to be an expert in a dynamic system of providers that they invariably have received little to no training. As social media and web presence being an afterthought, institutions are often missing out on the most effective and inexpensive means of reaching a maximum number of constituents to share their unique school culture.  We are living in a world where social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter are the vehicles for not only sharing but shaping the public’s perception of each school’s particular experience.  When used effectively, these tools can generate a feel of what it is like to be part of the school’s culture.  

Getting Started
So, how do you get moving with social media?  Start with truly examining your school’s culture and feel.  Brainstorm a list of key brand attributes, inlcuding the special experiences and programs that really define the magic of your institution.  Remember, you are focusing on reflecting the culture of your institution, not just facts and figures.   Once your team has refined this list, use it as the lens or organizing concept of a communication plan to be disseminated through social media outlets.  Utilize every post with a keen eye on understanding that it needs to be a true reflection of the culture of your institution.  

The Truth About Social Media
Here's the deal about social media from our vantage point. We have never had so many intuitive, audience-friendly, engaging, inexpensive tools available to engage our audiences before in this industry. My hot words are bold here for a point.

• Intuitive - Come on. Social media is really easy to use. If you can run an app on your iPhone, you can run a social media site.
• Audience-Friendly - This is where our audience is. On social media. We don't need to work so hard to find them if we become one with them.
• Engaging - Social media allows organizations to stop promotion and start engagement. Our audiences are tired and skeptical about promotion.
• Inexpensive - Social media is cheap. Really cheap compared to the print and advertising alternative.

Now, before we elect social media as the panacea to marketing, let's be clear about a few important marketing issues. We tend to confuse activity with meaning. Just because we can easily publish any photo or video we want, that does not mean we should. Social media is still like any other marketing communications tool in that it needs to be consistent, integrated, and have effective messages. Again, I've underlined my hot words for a point.

• Consistent - No matter what tools your school uses, let's make sure that you are being consistent in all media the messages that you want to convey. Volvo is not just about "safety" in some materials and not in others.
• Integrated - All marketing communication strategies need to be integrated so that the tools in a system work in concert.
• Effective - What are you really trying to communicate? Make sure that the key message is crystal clear. "What" is conveyed in a viral video should be the same message in a website or print media. It is the "how" that message is conveyed that is different.

It's pretty simple. Social media offers a great new set of tools that we all should embrace. And, it also opens up many challenges for the organization that does not have clear or consistent messaging. In fact, adding social media to an already faltering marketing organization will likely accentuate the negative. Translation: If you don't have your act together, social media will demonstrate that for all to see.

Finally, institutions need maintain their commitment to social media.   After drawing prospective families in with a compelling vision of your school’s experience,  they are invariably hungry to dive deeper into this culture.  Prospective families notice when social media sites aren’t maintained. In this culture of “binge-watching” and entertainment on demand,  waiting around for the next episode just isn’t in our vernacular. 

Announcing the Kingwood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color

In June 2012, Head of School Dennis Bisgaard founded the Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color, meant to provide education, resources, and networking opportunities for people of color on the path toward becoming Senior Administrators or Heads of School at independent schools. ISA is a proud promotional partner of the KO Leadership Institute for Educators of Color.

The Leadership Institute was created in response to a stark reality in the independent school profession: Out of 1,400 schools that belong to the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), only 4% -- 50 schools -- are led by a person of color. The percentage of female Heads, while not quite as low, is still surprisingly small, especially at the high school level.

The mission of the KO Leadership Institute is to help educators of color explore, prepare for, and position themselves for passageway into leadership roles within independent schools. Several national experts serve in advisory capacities and/or as presenters at the Institute. For more information, or to register for the conference, please visit the conference webpage here.

ISA Position Openings

Ian Symmonds & Associates is in the final stages of accepting applications for three positions in our research and consulting services firm.  Each of the three roles have complete position descriptions listed on our Jobs page.  We expect to continue to accept CV's, resumes, and inquiries of interest for each of these roles until March 15.  Applications and inquiries are accepted only via email at ian@iansymmonds.com. 

Driving Demand Series Continues

Last week we launched a three part blog series called "Driving Demand", a strategic enrollment management focus on generating interest at the inquiry level for independent schools.  The blog series is authored by Kelly Laboe, ISA's director of enrollment services, and focuses solely on what we call "the missing function" at independent schools: the ability to generate more interest in the top half of the enrollment funnel.  Driving Demand // Part One focused on relational marketing and Driving Demand // Part Two focused on content marketing.  Our final installment will focus on social media and will be released later this week.  If you are an enrollment manager or marketing director at an independent school, you will want to follow this series and pass it along to your colleagues.